Participant

Answered

Converting Adobe XML forms back to normal PDF

Forum|Forum|17 years ago
October 20, 2008
14 replies
229387 views

I want to get rid of the XML Forms in my PDF and then save as regular PDF format so that I can merge files into single PDF.

When I edit file in Designer and get rid of form elements, then save as PDF. I still can't combine files. I get error that says my file is still Adobe XML.

Is there a way to save PDFs that still have forms in them as non-AdobeXML files?

If not, how do I get rid of Forms and convert back into regular PDF that I can combine with othe PDFs into one single PDF?

Correct answer _Aandi_Inston_

Once you have gone to Designer, you are stuck there. There is no way
to get that particular PDF back into Acrobat form. It no longer is a
PDF form, it's XML in a PDF wrapper even if you remove all the form
fields.

You might be able to print to PDF from Acrobat to make a new,
non-form, flat PDF.

Aandi Inston

Show previous replies

A

Anonymous

I figured this out!

File > Print > Printer: "Adobe PDF" > Properties > Adobe PDF Settings (Tab)

Then uncheck all of the check boxes minus the "View Adobe PDF results"

Here is a screen shot:

ADHEnviro

Participant

Which adobe program were you using? I can't get your tips to work with X Standard and the new stupid DC version. Grr.

try67

Community Expert

Let's imagine that I don't have a Windows machine available, because I don't. Is there no way to do this? I'm using the latest, updated, Acrobat DC on a Mac, w/ MacOS 10.13.6

You can try opening the form in Acrobat, exporting it as image files, and then creating a new file in Acrobat from those images.

Run Text Recognition on then add form fields, if you wish.

A

art4ind

Participant

I just used something called graphic converter. Its free, but I think I use it so much I paid for it. A few dollars. I drag pdf to graphic converter, and save it again as a pdf. worked perfectly!

_

_roddyguy_Author

Participant

Thanks Aandi,

Printing to PDF worked.

I'm suprised they don't have a function built into Acrobat Professional that won't revert document to non-AdobeXML format.

Dave

B

bnob35

Participant

I know this was a long time ago, but I am trying ot do the same thing but mine is not working. Did you do something special to your adobe print settings? When I print to pdf and try to open it is saying that the file is corrupt?

T

Test Screen Name

Legend

Please say

- which system you have

- which version of Acrobat (NOT Reader)

- step by step, how you print to PDF?

_

_Aandi_Inston_Correct answer

Participating Frequently

Once you have gone to Designer, you are stuck there. There is no way
to get that particular PDF back into Acrobat form. It no longer is a
PDF form, it's XML in a PDF wrapper even if you remove all the form
fields.

You might be able to print to PDF from Acrobat to make a new,
non-form, flat PDF.

Aandi Inston

P

profstein

Participant

Unfortunately you can not print to PDF any longer. You get a message that says "saving a PDF while printing is not supported. Instead choose File > Save. "

But then if you try to save it, the file is either the exact same XML PDF or if you do something like Optimize, it will say "This file contains an Adobe XML form. Such files cannot be optimized."

As far as I can tell there is no way to "flatten" an XML-based PDF file. The only thing I could do is to literally print it out and then scan it back in. Extremely frustrating.

A

AmandaGilland

Participant

I was having this same issue and printed the file as a PDF and was then able to insert the file into a combine PDF.

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